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Allods Online "more free-to-play than ever" with new patch
How free is free-to-play? That depends on the game, and in the case of Allods Online, free just got a bit freer. gPotato Europe announced in a press release this morning that today's patch, an update to Volume 2: Rise of Gorluxor, will make the game "more free-to-play than ever." Players may now complete daily quests that offer selected premium rewards including double XP over time bonuses, items that negate death penalties, and buff trinkets that grant up to 24 hours of increased character power. Additionally, every Allods character will receive a free gift, so check your in-game mailbox within the next 30 days. Volume 2: Rise of the Gorluxor features a lengthy list of improvements including the Dream Factory (a new level 20 zone) as well as class tweaks and bug fixes. Be sure and take a look at the full patch notes on the official site.
One Shots: So intense
If there's one thing we geeks know and love, it's pop culture viral internet memes. From jokes about lolcats to autotuned news and Sesame Street doing Old Spice, we geeks love all manner of silliness. And while I'm also likely to try to inject that into One Shots, every so often someone does it for me, as with today's contributor, Allgoodnow, who sent this image of Allods Online in to us. Taken in the Twilight Forest in Evermeet Isle on the Tensess server, Allgoodnow explains his chance encounter with this view: "A simple cleric goes about his nightly questing routines only to (somewhat accidentally) look up at the night sky. Astonished by what he sees (double lens flare all the way! What does it mean?!), he stops and pauses for a brief instant to fix upon his minds eye this image of astonishing beauty before continuing upon his quest." We love pop-culture references. It's like peanut butter and chocolate. If you'd like to add your own spin on a One Shots, we'd love to see it. Just email it to us here at oneshots@massively.com along with your name, the name of the game, and a description of what we're seeing. We'll post it out here and give you the credit for linking the meme with the screenshot! %Gallery-85937%
GDCO 2010: gPotato's Tara Einis on Iris Online and Allods' cash shop
When I heard that I had landed an interview with Tara Einis of gPotato (publisher of Allods Online, the upcoming Iris Online, and many others), I immediately began daydreaming about poring over hours and hours of audio and transcribing hard-hitting interviews filled with fiery give-and-takes. Instead, I found myself calmly wanting to know about gPotato's general cash-shop practices, long history in free-to-play, and reaction to Allods' perceived "debacle." I also found evidence for my theory that the company is, yes, still publishing games and still excited for the future. It should be no surprise, though -- gPotato has maintained a hefty presence in the world of free-to-play for longer than most. So, what are we going to see next? What did gPotato have planned for the future? Turns out quite a lot.
Massively.com and GameBreaker.TV: Coming to you live from GDC Online!
GDC Online (formerly GDC Austin) is rapidly approaching, and we here at Massively.com are making sure that we're on the front lines of coverage from the event. We have plenty of interviews lined up with a huge variety of companies, and we're teaming up with our friends at GameBreaker.TV to deliver live coverage of the event via GameBreaker's live show at the Vivox booth! To get you excited for the coming conference, we've provided the list of companies we're meeting with just after the break! The list isn't fully extensive, as we'll be covering a variety of panels as well, but it will give you an idea of whom we're meeting with. Plus, keep an eye out for a link to the live GameBreaker.TV broadcast on our right-hand sidebar! Their coverage of the event will be starting on Wednesday, October 6th at 12:00 p.m. EDT!
Allods Online Volume 2: Rise of Gorluxor explodes tomorrow
Oh Gorluxor, won't you ever learn? Why must your persist in your efforts to conquer the world with your fancy-schmancy magics? If the great wizard Gargamel had no chance against a gang of small but peppy Smurfs, then you're going to be bowled over when well-armored Allods Online players enter your sacred domain. Allods Online is set to launch its second volume tomorrow, entitled "Rise of Gorluxor." This sparkly update includes the titular raid boss, a great mage who sits in the middle of both a tower and a terrible mystery. The patch also includes a reworking of many Astral allods, the addition of new boss fights, several class changes, and an overhaul of the Arena of Death. Players who were rankled by the incense system will be pleased to hear that gPotato is giving away a free incense effect every day via a special NPC. Patch notes are available over at Allods Online, and a jazzed-up trailer for the release can be seen after the jump.
Allods Online Producer leaving Gala-net
Allods Online's Associate Producer Darren Allarde bid farewell "with a heavy heart" to the Allods Online community yesterday. Allarde is leaving his position in order to his talents to the City of Eternals team over at Ohai, leaving Kenny Yan to fill his shoes at Gala-Net. Krystin "Nephy" DeHaven will complete the transition by stepping into the Production Coordinator position. Yesterday was Allarde's last day with Gala-Net, and you can read his farewell in full on the Allods Online site. We at Massively wish Darren, Kenny, and Krysten the best of luck in their new ventures.
Dream a little dream of Allods Online's patch 1.1.02
Patch 1.1 was a contentious period in the life of Allods Online, but the dev team is hoping to get past the controversy with the impressive improvements of patch 1.1.02. Although those excessive decimal points may not instill your heart with awe, the patch is quite beefy indeed. At the cornerstone of this update is a new zone, the Dream Factory. Meant for level 22 Imperial players, the Dream Factory will shed some light on Yasker's war against the League. Also included in the update is a bevy of new social options, including a calendar and a bulletin board system. The bulletin board offers three helpful features: guild announcements, general announcements and a looking-for-group tool. Most of the classes were on the business end of a major tune-up, and as a result, affected classes have had their talents and rubies reset. The patch notes list extensive changes for classes such as the warrior, although scouts are left with this maddeningly vague statement: "Significantly changed all spells and abilities." It's a new minigame: figure out what "significant changes" have been made to your class! You can read the full patch notes over at Allods Online.
Region-specific changes coming to Allods Online
Well, the players have spoken. Thankfully, Associate Producer Darren Allarde and the rest of the crew over at Allods Online listened. Some of the recent game changes to Allods Online went over like the proverbial lead balloon, and in response Allarde spoke with quite a few players. "Over the last several weeks the team has surveyed a large part of our player population to better understand the major concerns with Patch 1.1.0. While this patch may have brought many new features and improvements to Allods Online, there were a lot of core changes that did not resonate well with a large part of the Allods Online community," said Allarde. As a result, some changes are coming to Allods Online in North America and Europe only. A revamped Astral, more quests and tradeable items, and a longer lifespan on item shop items are the highlights of this patch that (hopefully) will please the NA and EU fanbase. The update will arrive within two weeks. In the meantime, check out the newest Allods Online blog post for all the details.
Free for All: Three games to keep an eye on
There is so much to be excited about in the MMORPG world that I am always perplexed when someone claims lack of innovation in the market. I tend to think that this comes from an inability to play more than one game, or to support more than one idea in gaming, rather than from the actual state of the market. The fact is that there is so much happening in the world of gaming, and specifically free-to-play gaming, a player should feel almost overwhelmed. I wanted to point out three games now in development (or very close to release) that I believe will do very well. Think of this as a list of predictions -- in fact I am going to have some fun with it and predict just how well these games will do. I have always enjoyed testing my gut. Concerning these three games, my gut is very, very excited. So, let's get right to the list.
Allods gears up to give away $50,000 in prizes
gPotato has announced a huge summer giveaway in conjunction with its free-to-play fantasy MMORPG known as Allods Online. The event is called the Quest for Chests (no, really) and in addition to featuring a comely lass on the promotional materials, also boasts over $50,000 in potential prizes. Beginning today, Allods players can win premium in-game gear from the Item Shop as well as big-screen LCD televisions, iPads, and AlienWare computer systems. All players need do is log an hour's worth of game time per day, and they'll receive keys to unlock various chests that feature instant win item shop prizes. Additionally, each opened chest automatically enters the player's name into a drawing for the aforementioned electronic gizmos. Visit the giveaway site for more details, and don't forget to stop by the official Allods site for more information on the game.
Allods Online team defends patch 1.1 changes
Typically, a new content patch in an MMO is an exciting time, but for the folks over at Allods Online, it's been a bumpy road, to say the least. With changes to the game, including a death penalty that causes items to become cursed with negative stats, players have been crying foul over the focus on cash shop items to overcome penalties. Specifically, Holy Charms, Incense, and Scrolls of Purification are highly desired by the playerbase, who see them as a necessity to level. Unfortunately, all of these items are cash shop only, forcing players to either fork over money or purchase them on the auction house for very high markups. Due to the widespread complaints, the Allods Online team posted a response to the latest controversy that's hit this free-to-play title. In the article, the team defends the changes and takes the position that cash shop purchases are not required to experience the full game: "We want to assure you that the game has not become Pay-to-Play or Pay-to-Win. At the core of Allods you can still enjoy the game without ever having to worry about spending money. Yes, Holy Charms, Incense, and Scrolls of Purification are only offered through the Item Shop, but they can be purchased from other players and the auction house." The response concludes by saying that patch 1.1 is the framework for future patches, and the Allods Online team has a long-term view of the MMO's goals and objectives. Read the full response and let us know what you think!
Exclusive Allods Online IRC Q&A: Darren Allarde and Shelby Goad take on your questions
Last week we were able to get Darren "CHOMP" Allarde, associate producer of Allods Online, and Shelby "Miss_Sadie" Goad, the Allods Online community manager, from gPotato into our chat room and into the hotseat. The topic: Allods Online and their latest patch, Revelations of Gipat! Our editors fielded questions from the chat room audience, and you put the Allods associate producer and community manager to the test! But, for those of you who didn't make it, never fear! We've got the entire interview right here for your viewing pleasure, with witty banter and all! So if you're an Allods fan or just want to find out what they've been doing with their game, hit the continue reading button and get ready for our Allods Online live community Q&A transcript! And don't forget to join us tomorrow to play with Darren, Shelby and more of the gPotato team in Allods itself!
Revelations of Gipat goes live for Allods Online
It was President Franklin Delano Roosevelt who said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." While it would be more than three-quarters of a century after that when Allods Online was released, he certainly could have been referring to the Fear of Death penalty that caused quite a bit of fear and rage among players. But that tortured analogy no longer applies, as today sees the release of the newest patch for the game, Revelations of Gipat, which removes Fear of Death for good and puts a new death penalty into place. For many of the game's players, removing the unnecessarily cash-shop-based penalty would be enough to make the patch laudable. But as was revealed when the team released the patch notes last week, the update also sees the addition of a new zone, a raise in level cap, and new content for everyone to enjoy. After the marathon maintenance session, Allods Online is live again and ready for play -- it's worth checking out, even if the size of the patch might scare you off. You can also check out our gallery, showing off some of the new content players can expect as well as mounts. %Gallery-97106%
Allods Online previews the next big patch
The next big patch for Allods Online is due to hit the live servers on July 7th, and it's bringing a slew of changes along with it. We've heard rumbles about several of them, including the removal of the Fear of Death effect (along with the associated cash shop awkwardness) and a few player-presented suggestions. Still, it's good to know the full extent of what's coming around the bend, which is why the team behind the game has published both a full list of the patch changes as well as an FAQ regarding some of the larger switches. A few of the changes are a bit baffling -- the game now supports addons, but the documentation being released is still in untranslated Russian. Several additions are also subtle but welcomed, such as changes to the patronage system to remove the option for accelerating the process via the cash shop. There seems to be a general path toward taking the absolute necessity out of the cash shop, so if you were still feeling burned by the original cash shop woes, it might be worth the time to take a look at the new patch notes for Allods Online and see if there's something to spark your interest. (Or you could just take a dip with the Massively team to get into the action again.)
Meet the Allods Online team on their own turf: Play Allods with gPotato and Massively
What's better than playing your favorite game? Obviously, it's playing your favorite game with the people who work on it! Once again, we here at Massively are hosting another Mob Scene event in cooperation with the developers behind the game! This time we have our sights set on Allods Online and the beautiful realm of Sarnaut. So come sail the astral with us and the gPotato team as we descend on the starting zone for the Empire. Interested in learning more about this "play with the developers" opportunity and an accompanying IRC chat developer Q&A session? Then continue reading and we'll hit you with all of the juicy details!
Players hath spoken, Allods hath listened: Revelations of Gipat includes several player suggestions
Some might say that Allods Online is rapidly outgrowing its pair of britches, which is probably why gPotato piled into a car for a shopping trip to the britch store. With the new Revelations of Gipat 1.1 patch, Allods is expanding in ways that should bring happiness, love and warfare to all. We've already heard about the new mounts galloping into the game, but gPotato isn't stopping there: Players will be able to level to 42, enjoy over 200 new quests, challenge three new endgame bosses (including Strina the Fierce, who makes her Massively debut up top there) and romp through the newest zone, Gipat. In addition to all of this, the developers have been hard at work coming up with new features based on player suggestions. While some of these are small, these quality-of-life features should nevertheless make players very happy. These new features include official add-on support, chat bubbles (which can be toggled on and off), a target-of-target system, additional animations, better audio, more hotkey capabilities and being able to invert your mouse. It'll truly be interesting to see how the players react to this patch, and how the modding community will explore their new playground. Revelations of Gipat is scheduled for later this summer.
Allods Online new unisex items beg for attention
gPotato released two new outfits and a few other nifty items into their cash shop for Allods Online recently, and we're curious if any of you paid for them. Already some items on the list have created a bit of a stir, either with the price that is asked for it or with the description of an item. For example, while the few clothing items introduced are very lovely on either sex, some have complained that the prices are still too high. For the record, 1700 gPotatoes (the price for the Elven Evening Attire) equals seventeen US dollars. The one item that we think is the most useful seems to suffer from the worst description: "Ever been stuck in a wall with no GM around and your Adventurer's Stone on cool down? Well, just dig through your couch for a few pennies and purchase a Guiding Shard to take you to your faction's capitol for five cents a trip!" According to some of the comments we've read, it seems like the developers are asking the player to pay when they become stuck, instead of selling a cool return item. Despite these few issues, there are other items like the Astral Courier (think of it as a bank that comes to you when called) and the Adamantite Chest that might be more to your liking. You can check out the list here. It will be interesting to see how these new items are received, especially after the large amount of noise their first attempt brought on. We want to know what you think, and if you have plans to buy any of them? We're a little partial to the Evening Attire, ourselves. [Editor's Note: The description for the Guilding Shard is different in game than it is in the official website announcement that we quoted. The in game cash shop describes the item: "Use: Teleports you to the capital of your faction." We wanted to clarify the intended use for it.]
Allods Online offering in-game and real-world prizes in Goblin-O-Ball tournament
Allods Online is bring a lighthearted version of PvP to their game with the Skrakan Cup, the first ever in-game Goblin-O-Ball tournament on Allods Online's European servers. The event begins on May 19th, but registration starts tomorrow. You'll need eight players -- a team of six plus two alternates -- to join, and Allods Online will make it well worth your while. While they're keeping details under their collective hat until closer to the match dates, there will be a generous number of both in-game and real-world prizes to make it worth your while, just in case the thrill of victory isn't quite enough of an incentive. All of the current details are on the Allods site, including the registration deadline of May 17th. Register your team on the forums beginning tomorrow to be scheduled for a match, then keep an eye out for more details on rules, times, and prizes as they're released.
Allods releases Patch 06: Edge of the Astral
When it comes to free-to-play games, one of the ones that draws a ton of attention is Allods Online. Today, gPotato has released the newest patch -- Patch 06: Edge of the Astral -- to the servers. As such, players will have a chance to get their hands on all that new content and find out how the tweaks and modifications will affect them. If you haven't checked Allods Online out recently, this patch brings in new raid content where players will face off against War'kaz the Mindreaver, a massive Astral demon who now lurks in Gorluxor's Tower. Of course, if the idea of raiding isn't really your thing, there is also The Arena of Death in Yazes Shard -- a PvP arena that will allow players to pit their skills against each other for bonus Combat Glory. There are also adorably evil customizable goblin pets like the two seen above if neither of those areas appeal. As to the bug fixes, tweaks, and other game improvements -- there's an enormous list. Some of the ones that immediately caught our eyes were splitting items in stacks, a hotkey for whispers, and more. This patch also holds more changes to the Fear of Death mechanic -- namely the removal of priest rez avoiding FoD -- but we suspect that change is not among the ones welcomed by players. Be sure to pop over to the Allods Online forums on gPotato's site for the full patch notes.
Full notes available for upcoming Allods Online patch
When the announcement first came regarding the massive Allods Online patch, it was exciting news for a game that kind of needed the boost. Now that the full patch notes for Patch 06: Edge of the Astral are available, the whole operation looks better than ever. The two largest additions, a free-for-all arena in Yasez Shard and the astral demon War'kaz the Mindreaver, are almost overshadowed by a long list of balance tweaks and bugfixes that encompass nearly every part of the game. The patch notes, which are both exhaustive and long, cover everything in the coming patch. Some of the changes are simply quality of life fixes, such as the addition of an auto-AFK feature or the ability to use a hotkey for replying to whispers. Others are meant to improve the experience of players with Astral Ships, including new training quests to give a feel for how they work on the ground. (Well, in astral space.) And, of course, there are the aforementioned marquee features to allow for open PvP and the thorough reaving of minds. If you play Allods Online or are still considering it, take a look at the full patch notes to see what's coming around the bend.
